Six months ago, I got an email from a man in Israel who had read one of my books, and the email said, "You don't know me, but I'm your 12th cousin." And it said, "I have a family tree with 80,000 people on it, including you, Karl Marx, and several European aristocrats." Now I did not know what to make of this. Part of me was like, okay, when's he going to ask me to wire 10,000 dollars to his Nigerian bank, right? I also thought, 80,000 relatives, do I want that? I have enough trouble with some of the ones I have already. And I won't name names, but you know who you are. But another part of me said, this is remarkable. Here I am alone in my office, but I'm not alone at all. I'm connected to 80,000 people around the world, and that's four Madison Square Gardens full of cousins. And some of them are going to be great, and some of them are going to be irritating, but they're all related to me.
六個月前,我收到了一封電子郵件, 來自一位在以色列的男士, 他讀了我的其中一本書, 他在這封郵件裡提到: 「你不認識我,但是我是你第12個表兄弟」, 「你不認識我,但是我是你第12個表兄弟」, 他又說:「我有一份記載了8萬個人的族譜, 他又說:「我有一份記載了8萬個人的族譜, 其中包括你,卡爾.馬克思, 以及一些歐洲貴族。」 我不知道該做何反應。 當他叫我匯1萬美金到 他在奈吉利亞銀行的賬戶的時候, 一部份的我大概會做出 「好吧」這樣的反應,對吧? 我也思考著,8萬個親戚 我需要他們嗎? 我和一些現在已經有的幾個親戚 都有一些問題了, 已經有些問題了。 我不想指名道姓,但你們知道我在說你們。 但是另一部份的我會說:「這值得關注」 我獨自在我的辦公室裡面,但我根本不孤單。 我和 8 萬個人有連結, 那可是整整四個麥迪遜廣場花園 的親戚。 他們有些人很棒, 有些很惱人, 但他們全都跟我有關係。
So this email inspired me to dive into genealogy, which I always thought was a very staid and proper field, but it turns out it's going through a fascinating revolution, and a controversial one. Partly, this is because of DNA and genetic testing, but partly, it's because of the Internet. There are sites that now take the Wikipedia approach to family trees, collaboration and crowdsourcing, and what you do is, you load your family tree on, and then these sites search to see if the A.J. Jacobs in your tree is the same as the A.J. Jacobs in another tree, and if it is, then you can combine, and then you combine and combine and combine until you get these massive, mega-family trees with thousands of people on them, or even millions. I'm on something on Geni called the world family tree, which has no less than a jaw-dropping 75 million people. So that's 75 million people connected by blood or marriage, sometimes both. (Laughter) It's in all seven continents, including Antarctica. I'm on it. Many of you are on it, whether you know it or not, and you can see the links. Here's my cousin Gwyneth Paltrow. She has no idea I exist, but we are officially cousins. We have just 17 links between us.
這封郵件讓我一頭鑽進宗譜 這個我一直覺得一成不變的領域, 結果它卻經歷了一場令人著迷 且具有爭議性的革命。 一方面由於 DNA 檢測, 另一方面則由於網際網路。 現在有些網站 把維基百科應用在家族樹, 並透過合作與眾包, 你所要做的就是 上傳你的家族樹, 然後這些網站會去搜尋, 看你家族樹上的 A.J. 雅各 和另一個家族樹上的 A.J. 雅各是否相同, 如果是同一個人的話, 兩個家族樹就可以合併, 經過不斷的合併再合併, 最後你會得到一個龐大 無比的家族樹, 上面會有幾千, 甚至數百萬人。 我被列在 Geni 網站上一種叫做 世界家族樹的東西。 它包含了超過令人瞠目結舌的 7千500萬人。 意味著這7千500萬人有血緣關係 或是婚姻關係,有時候兩者都有。 (笑聲) 它橫跨了七大洲,包括南極洲。 我被列在上面, 你們很多人也被列在上面, 卻可能不知道, 你可以看到這些連結。 這是我的表親葛妮絲.派特洛。 她根本不知道有我這個人存在, 但我們確實是表親。 我們之間有17個連結。
And there's my cousin Barack Obama. (Laughter) And he is my aunt's fifth great-aunt's husband's father's wife's seventh great-nephew, so practically my old brother.
這裡是我的表親巴拉克.歐巴馬。 (笑聲) 他是我阿姨的第15個姨媽的老公的 父親的老婆的第7個甥孫。 基本上可以說是我的哥哥。
And my cousin, of course, the actor Kevin Bacon -- (Laughter) — who is my first cousin's twice removed's wife's niece's husband's first cousin once removed's niece's husband. So six degrees of Kevin Bacon, plus or minus several degrees.
然後是我的表親,當然囉, 演員凱文.貝肯 (笑聲) 他是我第一表親的孫子的 老婆的外甥的老公的表親的小孩的 外甥的老公。 所以是六個貝肯數, 正負幾個貝肯數。
Now, I'm not boasting, because all of you have famous people and historical figures in your tree, because we are all connected, and 75 million may seem like a lot, but in a few years, it's quite likely we will have a family tree with all, almost all, seven billion people on Earth.
我不是在誇大,你們全部 都有名人或是歷史人物 在家族樹裡面, 因為我們全被連結在一起, 7千500萬聽起來很多, 但是幾年過後很可能 我們的家族樹 會包含所有在地球上的75億人。
But does it really matter? What's the importance? And I do think it is important, and I'll give you five reasons why, really quickly.
但是這有意義嗎? 這有什麼重要? 我確實認為這很重要, 我會很快速的給你們五個理由,
First, it's got scientific value. This is an unprecedented history of the human race, and it's giving us valuable data about how diseases are inherited, how people migrate, and there's a team of scientists at MIT right now studying the world family tree.
第一,這有科學上的價值。 這在人類史上史無前例, 這給了我們重要的資訊, 包括疾病如何傳播, 人類如何遷移, 而現在 MIT 有個科學家團隊正在 研究這個世界家族樹。
Number two, it brings history alive. I found out I'm connected to Albert Einstein, so I told my seven-year-old son that, and he was totally engaged. Now Albert Einstein is not some dead white guy with weird hair. He's Uncle Albert. (Laughter) And my son wanted to know, "What did he say? What is E = MC squared?" Also, it's not all good news. I found a link to Jeffrey Dahmer, the serial killer, but I will say that's on my wife's side. (Laughter) (Applause) So I want to make that clear. Sorry, honey.
第二,它讓歷史活躍於眼前。 我發現我和亞伯特.愛因斯坦有連結, 我把這件事我告訴我七歲大的兒子, 他完全被吸引住了。 現在亞伯特.愛因斯坦不再只是個 有著可笑髮型的作古白人。 而是亞伯特叔叔了。(笑聲) 然後我兒子想知道: 「他說了什麼?」「什麼是 E=MC 平方?」 但也不全是好消息。 我發現我跟連續殺人犯 傑弗瑞.達莫有關係, 不過他是在我老婆那邊的。 (笑聲)(掌聲) 我得說明清楚。抱歉,親愛的。
Number three, interconnectedness. We all come from the same ancestor, and you don't have to believe the literal Bible version, but scientists talk about Y chromosomal Adam and mitochondrial Eve, and these were about 100,000 to 300,000 years ago. We all have a bit of their DNA in us. They are our great-great-great-great-great-great -- continue that for about 7,000 times -- grandparents, and so that means we literally all are biological cousins as well, and estimates vary, but probably the farthest cousin you have on Earth is about a 50th cousin. Now, it's not just ancestors we share, descendants. If you have kids, and they have kids, look how quickly the descendants accumulate. So in 10, 12 generations, you're going to have thousands of offspring, and millions of offspring.
第三,互聯性。 我們全都來自於同一個祖先, 你不需要相信聖經上所說的, 但是科學家把 Y 染色體比喻成亞當, 粒腺體比喻成夏娃, 這大概是十萬到三十萬年前發生的。 我們體內都有著他們的 DNA。 他們是你們的曾曾曾曾.......祖父母 大概有 7千個曾, 這也意味著我們是 生物學上的表親, 預測可能有出入,但是很可能 你在地球上 最遠房的表親有大約 50 等。 好,現在不光是祖先, 我們的後代也有關係。 如果你有小孩,他們也有小孩, 看看後代累積的速度有多快。 所以10代,12代之後, 你們會有著數千, 甚至數百萬的後代。
Number four, a kinder world. Now, I know that there are family feuds. I have three sons, so I see how they fight. But I think that there's also a human bias to treat your family a little better than strangers. I think this tree is going to be bad news for bigots, because they're going to have to realize that they are cousins with thousands of people in whatever ethnic group they happen to have issues with, and I think you look back at history, and a lot of the terrible things we've done to each other is because one group thinks another group is sub-human, and you can't do that anymore. We're not just part of the same species. We're part of the same family. We share 99.9 percent of our DNA.
第四,更美好的世界。 我知道現在很多家庭之間都有爭執。 我有三個兒子,我知道他們怎麼吵架的。 但是我認為人類在 對待自己家人比對待陌生人 要來的好這點是有偏見的。 我覺得家族樹 對固執的人來說是個壞消息, 因為他們會發現 他們竟然是和自己有問題 的那個族群 的表親, 而當你們回顧歷史, 很多我們對彼此做的壞事 都是因為我們認為 另外一群人比我們低等, 現在你不能再這麼做了。 我們不止是同一個物種。 我們是一個家族的一部份。 我們的 DNA 有 99.9% 相同。
Now the final one is number five, a democratizing effect. Some genealogy has an elitist strain, like people say, "Oh, I'm descended from Mary Queen of Scots and you're not, so you cannot join my country club." But that's really going to be hard to do now, because everyone is related. I'm descended from Mary Queen of Scots -- by marriage, but still.
最後是第五點, 對民主化的影響。 有些族譜有著菁英血脈, 有人會說:「喔,我是 瑪莉皇后的後代, 而你不是,所以你不能加入我的鄉村俱樂部。」 但是這些現在已經成為過去式了, 因為每個人都是有親戚關係的。 我是瑪莉皇后的後代, 是由於婚姻關係,但總歸是的。
So it's really a fascinating time in the history of family, because it's changing so fast. There is gay marriage and sperm donors and there's intermarriage on an unprecedented scale, and this makes some of my more conservative cousins a little nervous, but I actually think it's a good thing. I think the more inclusive the idea of family is, the better, because then you have more potential caretakers, and as my aunt's eighth cousin twice removed Hillary Clinton says -- (Laughter) — it takes a village.
所以,從家庭的觀點來看, 這真是一個令人訝異的時刻, 因為它改變得如此迅速。 同性婚姻、捐精者、 有史以來最大規模的通婚, 都讓我一些比較保守的表親 有點緊張, 但事實上我覺得這是件好事。 我認為家族的概念越包羅萬象 越好, 這樣一來你就有了更多潛在的看管人, 如同我阿姨的八等表親的孫女 希拉蕊.柯林頓所說的-- (笑聲) 需要一整村的人。
So I have all these hundreds and thousands, millions of new cousins. I thought, what can I do with this information? And that's when I decided, why not throw a party? So that's what I'm doing. And you're all invited. Next year, next summer, I will be hosting what I hope is the biggest and best family reunion in history. (Applause) Thank you. I want you there. I want you there. It's going to be at the New York Hall of Science, which is a great venue, but it's also on the site of the former World's Fair, which is, I think, very appropriate, because I see this as a family reunion meets a world's fair. There's going to be exhibits and food, music. Paul McCartney is 11 steps away, so I'm hoping he brings his guitar. He hasn't RSVP'd yet, but fingers crossed. And there is going to be a day of speakers, of fascinating cousins. It's early, but I've already, I've got some lined up. Cass Sunstein, my cousin who is perhaps the most brilliant legal scholar, will be talking. He was a former member of the Obama administration. And on the other side of the political spectrum, George H.W. Bush, number 41, the father, he has agreed to participate, and Nick Kroll, the comedian, and Dr. Oz, and many more to come. And, of course, the most important is that you, I want you guys there, and I invite you to go to GlobalFamilyReunion.org and figure out how you're on the family tree, because these are big issues, family and tribe, and I don't know all the answers, but I have a lot of smart relatives, including you guys, so together, I think we can figure it out. Only together can we solve these big problems. So from cousin to cousin, I thank you. I can't wait to see you. Goodbye.
而我擁有這些數百數千, 甚至數百萬個表親。 我在想,我能夠用這些資訊做些什麼呢? 於是我決定, 為何不辦個派對呢? 這就是我現在正在做的。 你們所有人都被邀請了。 明年,明年夏天, 我將會主辦一個 我希望是有史以來最大的家族聚會。 (掌聲) 謝謝,我希望你們來。 我希望你們來。 我會辦在紐約科學館, 那是個很棒的場地, 那裡也是上次世界博覽會的舉辦場地, 我覺得那裡是個很合適的地方, 因為我把這個家族聚會 看作是一次世界博覽會。 聚會裡會有展覽、食物、音樂。 保羅.麥卡尼在11層關係之外, 我希望他會帶著他的吉他來。 他還沒有答覆,就讓我們祈禱吧。 會有一天的時間留給演講者, 或是很吸引人的表親。 現在還早,但是已經, 已經有人在排隊了。 凱斯.桑斯坦(Cass Sunstein)或許是 我最厲害的法學家表親,將會在聚會上演講。 他曾是歐巴馬政府的一員。 在政界成員的另一邊, 喬治 H.W. 布希, 美國第 41 任總統,老布希, 他已經答應會參加, 喜劇演員尼克.科羅爾(Nick Kroll)、 奧茲醫師(Dr. Oz),還有更多人都將出席。 當然,最重要的就是你們, 我希望你們能出席, 同時我邀請你們造訪 GlobalFamilyReunion.org 試著找出你在家族樹的位置, 這是個很龐大的家族架構, 我也不知道答案, 但是我有很多聰明的親戚, 包括你們各位, 所以讓我們合力吧, 我認為我們能找出答案。 只有合力我們才能 解決這些大問題。 所以我的表親們, 謝謝你們。我等不及要見到你們了。 再會。
(Applause)
(掌聲)